Monday, September 16, 2013

Change Is Coming!

Sunrise over Salt Lake this morning

It hung on for as long as possible, but it is now apparent that our suffering is almost over. The summer of 2013, characterized by extreme heat in Salt Lake City and an extremely active and prolonged monsoon across much of the state, will end this week.

Change is coming in the form of a midlatitude upper-level trough and cold front that will sweep into the Pacific Northwest and penetrate into northern Utah early Wednesday.

By Wednesday afternoon, we will be enjoying the coldest airmass that we have seen around here since at least June, with 700-mb temperatures forecast to be near +2ºC.

It's tough to say for certain if this is a true stake-in-the-heart for the monsoon, but the forecasts for the next week or so keep us in large-scale southwesterly to westerly flow. Temperatures will rebound by later in the week, but it appears the monsoon moisture will remain to the south, which hopefully means that we'll see some decent cooling at night as we would expect with the approach of fall.

1 comment:

Due to recent rains, I have a suspicion that there might be a little more surface moisture around than the forecast models know about. If we can keep a moist boundary layer for another day or so, I can see the potential for possibly a severe storm or two in the area tomorrow with this first incoming system (cooling aloft, dry air over moist, and nice veering wind pattern). Perhaps even an early morning outbreak in the vicinity of the lake or northern Wasatch Front. Hoping for one last burst of action, anyway.

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The Wasatch Weather Weenies discuss the weather and climate of the Wasatch Front and Mountains, western United States, and beyond.

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